It used to be a big deal a couple of years ago, when dial-up still ruled and people spent the Monday after Black Friday shopping online. The theory went that most people had a much better Internet connection at work than they did at home (and therefore spent Monday shopping online, much to the chagrin of HR directors everywhere).
But now, with high-speed Internet widely available, and about 30 percent of the U.S. population armed with smartphones, it doesn't seem to be all that appropriate to offer the biggest online deals on Monday, does it?
I for one have already done a good deal of browsing online, ready to pull the trigger as soon as I make sure there's nothing advertised on Black Friday that I am willing to get up at 3 a.m. to purchase (and I'm pretty sure there's nothing out there to move that needle).
So the question remains: why wait until Monday? For that matter, with online deals and free shipping dangling out there, why even bother with Black Friday?
